Life on Earth
by Noyakwala
Summary: This is not like life on earth. They’ve been there a while now, what’s it like adjusting to life in a ghost city in another galaxy? And how can they get resupplied? Plus, John and Elizabeth are testing out this growing connection, but it’s leaving her mor


Title: Life on Earth

Category: sci-fi, speculative, romance, character driven, new planet, may become AU

Author: Sabine Yowaluch

Pairings: Elizabeth and John, though to what extent is yet to be decided. Elizabeth/Teyla friendship, and some others (possibly)

Rating: is probably around pg-13. This chapter is g/pg, but believe me it will get more intense later.

Summery: This is not like life on earth. They've been there a while now, what's it like adjusting to life in a ghost city in another galaxy? And how can they get resupplied? Plus, John and Elizabeth are testing out this growing connection, but it's leaving her more confused than anything else.

Notes: this may start a little slow, but bear with me Okay? this is my first Atlantis fic that's made it to posting, so let me know how I'm doing. unralated question: Anyone know how old John is?

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I have to legal right to use them. I don't want to step on anyone's fringes, I just want to write stories for my own amusement. I manke no money with this.

Elizabeth had started taking long walks whenever she found the time, exploring the ancient abandoned city of Atlantis. Some team members, she knew, almost never left the central tower, daunted by the enormous emptiness of the city. The snowflake shaped footprint of the city was expansive it must have been the New York City of the Ancients' world. Sometimes Elizabeth tried to picture Atlantis filled with a bustling society, the apartments full, the gardens in full bloom, the laboratories active, the gate bringing in dignitaries and sending out trading parties and day trippers. The network of stargates was so large, so impressive, when in their prime the Ancients must have been part of a true interplanetary, possibly intergalactic society. It was an idea so different from life on earth, Elizabeth didn't have enough reference points to really picture it.

The only Atlantis that she had ever seen was the one with the empty halls, the failing power, the dampness and the musty smell from all the seawater it had taken on. Her Atlantis was the one with ten thousand-year-old ghosts and a solemn loneliness. Her Atlantis was filled with mysteries, the answers to so many questions all around but just out of reach.

Elizabeth admired the city for its sheer beauty and artfulness. And for it's integrity. Nothing on Earth would last this well for ten thousand years.

The other day she had discovered a series of rooms that seemed to be a library. Most of the texts were all but indecipherable to her, but it was a thrilling discovery all the same. She had explored a block of opulent apartments, the beds ruined by seawater, devoid of any personal effects, but still grand, especially compared to the quarters in the central towers that the team occupied. There were many rooms, which she explored whose purpose she couldn't figure out. There were storage rooms and rooms with very little in them. She found a system of walkways that ran between the towers at the upper levels, some of them covered and some of them open to the air. And then there was the school complex she had discovered, rows of desks and chairs, still in perfect order. There was something unbelievably poignant about trying to picture the little Atlantian children learning and playing there.

Her long walks through the city, the city she had almost begun to think of as hers, were some of the only times she had all to herself. She has the gate teams coming and going, records to keep, reports to read, briefings to hold. She tried to keep an eye on all the various projects of the science teams. With surprising frequency she had to go settle some difference of opinion of one of the research teams. Those same individuals who were so brilliant when it came to technology or language often seemed socially inept or tended to be too stubborn and opinionated to let go of a disagreement and move on. All the day to day details of being team leader sometimes pilled up and then Elizabeth would make time to wonder the city of Atlantis, even it meant forfeiting some of her precious time for sleep.

It had been a particularly bad day, not because of any major crisis, but more from the lack of one. Tempers seemed to be wearing short all over Atlantis. She'd been in a briefing with Major John Sheppard's team about a mission that had gone poorly, to say the least. John and Rodney had been snipping at each other so fiercely she had worried that she's have to break up a fight. It wasn't their usual friendly ribbing and banter but something much cold and genuinely antagonistic.

When she could, Elizabeth manage to make her escape and come to contemplate the stars and the sea on a walkway over the city. They had been living in Atlantis long enough now that they were running out of some of the supplies they had brought from Earth, favorite foods, and some medical supplies. There had been some tense moments early on concerning the shrinking amount of clean cloths until they found the Atlantis version of a laundry room.

For four months they had been living in Atlantis. It was long enough for the amazement and the newness of the situation to begin to wear off and it was beginning to sink in how far from home they were. It was and awkward time, just after the excitement and just before they settled in and got used to life in Atlantis. Going in they had all been aware that there were uncertainties about the mission. They didn't really know what they'd find on the other side of the stargate. They hadn't known going in how long or even if they'd be coming back to earth. She had accepted that. But it hadn't seemed real until stepping through the event horizon of that wormhole to another galaxy. Atlantis was only a myth; Elizabeth had known that since childhood. And yet her it was, this beautiful, secretive, hollow city called Atlantis. And they were stuck there until they could find a way to power the gate enough to dial that eighth symbol to get back home. No human had ever been so far away from earth for so long before, there were bound to be some rough patches here and there.

It was a crisp night with clear skies and a gentle breeze. Elizabeth stared at the stars, trying to see if there were any constellations that she recognized. Perhaps she would name her own constellations. She wondered what the Ancients had called this planet. Maybe they would find out eventually, the Ancients must have written it down in one of the databases here.

If – when they got back to earth they would bring back so much new information and technology and hopefully a better understanding of the universe they lived in. she just hoped that they didn't also bring back the threat of the wraith.

She supposed they should have guessed that something must have gone very wrong to force the Atlantians from their home and onto earth. The Wraith were worse than anything they could have imagined. They were vampires, more so than any nightmare imagining dreamt of on earth. Atlantis wasn't some antiquated myth, it was real and life there was full of life and death situations. To be frank, it wasn't exactly what Elizabeth had imagined when she signed on to the mission, but she felt confident in her team and their abilities.

Ever since that monstrous hurricane the weather had begun to cool and become windier. The weather had been beautiful but humid when they first came. Now there was still enough moisture in the air to make her hair curl, but the days were getting cooler and the nights were downright chilly. Elizabeth was beginning to wish she'd brought a jacket when she came out to the balcony.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flicker of movement nearby. Puzzled, she looked closer and saw a figure walking towards her, John. She frowned slightly. She enjoyed John's company but she had hoped that this high walkway would remain hers along for at least a little while longer. She should have known better. John was a pilot; of course he would gravitate to high places, anywhere where you felt like you could see the whole earth and sky. Except this wasn't earth. Elizabeth sighed.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" said John, sounding surprised but not unhappy to see her.

"I could ask you the same thing. I thought I was the only one who knew about this place."

John shrugged, "I like to go walking around when I have the time, get the lay of the land as it were."

Elizabeth was still reserving judgment on whether or not she was glad to see him. "Really? Found anything interesting?"

"Yes," he said, his intense gaze focused on her pointedly.

She cleared her through gently and turned to look out over the city instead of looking at him. Elizabeth could never quite serious when he said things like that.

In a very different tone of voice he said, "There's a library you might be interested in. I'm pretty sure it's a library."

Elizabeth nodded, picturing the library she had found and wondering how it was that they hadn't run into each other before while exploring. "I think I may have seen that," she said, "Did you see the school rooms? They're in the southwest arm of the city. I assume there are other school complexes as well, though, in a city this size."

"No, I haven't seen them. Maybe you could show me sometime?" said John, sounding genuinely interested.

Elizabeth looked over at him, surprised. "Really?

"Yeah. What, didn't think a guy like me would be interested in some old empty classrooms?" He said teasingly. More seriously he added, "I'd like to picture children here. Atlantis seems so empty."

"I know. Especially since the Athosians moved to the mainland."

"So you'll show me sometime?"

"Of course I will, John." She smiled at him.

"Hey, listen, about what happened at the briefing earlier, I want to apologize."

"Don't worry about it, John."

"McKay and I haven't been getting along to well lately, but that was an inappropriate time to bring it up and I'm sorry."

"Yes, it was inappropriate," Elizabeth said bluntly. "But it's alright as long as it doesn't become a regular occurrence."

"It won't."

"Good." Elizabeth thought for a moment. "You know, I thought you and Rodney were starting to become friends."

"We were. We are friends. But everyone seems to be getting on everyone else's nerves lately." He paused for a moment and then grinned mischievously, "Though in some cases I'd swear all this arguing was just some kind of weird foreplay. Dave Sutherland and Evelyn Fourkiller have been arguing like cats and dogs but I have it on good authority that they're sharing quarters now."

"Who's your source?"

"Lieutenant Ford."

Elizabeth smiled and raised an eyebrow, "I never would have guessed. I personally get my get my information from Carson."

Elizabeth stared at the horizon line. Clouds were coming in and it looked like it might be raining in the distance. "If we're here for much monger we're going to have to have an official opinion on relationships between team members." Elizabeth was thinking about how little success they'd had with finding ZPMs or other ways of powering the stargate enough for an eight symbol address. Not that they'd immediately vacate Atlantis if they got the capability to gate back to earth, it was just that an isolated mission was bound to have a different set of rules than one that was in contact with command on a regular basis. "Not that I intend to infringe on anyone's right to free choice and privacy, mind you, but we have an important job to do here."

John regarded her silently for a while. "You miss Simon don't you?" he asked gently.

Elizabeth sighed. When she thought about Simon she got a hollow ache inside that was like being ht in the chest with something heavy and blunt. As much as she enjoyed her close friendship with John, she didn't feel comfortable talking about Simon with him yet. Sometimes she thought she saw John looking at her in a way that was more intense than friendship, and she thought bringing Simon's apparition into the mix would just be too awkward. "We're a long way from home, John," she said instead of answering., "And we've been here long enough that I think it's starting to sink in. But it hasn't been long enough for us to get comfortable here or for us to understand how to use the city to our advantage instead of just being fascinated an puzzled by it.

John nodded, knowing the feeling she was talking about. It was sort of like living in a hotel for too long. "Doesn't it seem like it's been overly quiet for the past few weeks?" asked John thoughtfully.

"Quiet? Is that what you'd called what happened with the Tikarrites?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that the Prime Minister misunderstood what was going on with his daughter and me, it was all perfectly innocent. And besides that's not what I meant. I meant that for a while it seemed like we were having a crisis a week and now with things going smoothly for once everyone's on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"And here I thought it was a nice thing to have a break from weekly threats of catastrophe," said Elizabeth dryly with a wry half smile. "But I do understand what you're saying. On the bright side though, it's giving us some time to get a handle on what some of this technology around us does. For example, Dr. Joseph found a closet full of maintenance bots today. They haven't figured out how to give them instructions yet, but Vincent was optimistic."

"Great, so if the Wraith decide to attack us with dust bunnies we'll be able to hold our own," said John, trying to make a joke, but his voice had an edge to it and the humor fell flat. "Sorry, I guess that bad mood's not entirely gone yet."

"Everyone seems to be in a bad mood today, and I'm no exception."

"It's okay, John, I understand." She turned to face him again. "Back on Earth, trade was a different game. Long summits with China, bargaining steel tariffs with Japan, discouraging sweatshops, cars, soybeans and rice. America is a big country with a lot of bargaining ships and a fair amount of respect. We're just a small band of people from another galaxy with no experience in their economic process. We're newcomers, out of our element. This incident with the Tikarrites is just another example of how much we have to learn about our new environment. I think our next priority has to be finding a way to provide for ourselves. Maybe we can get the hydroponics bays up and running eventually, but we need supplies in the short term, while we still have things we can afford to trade. Not that we're having spectacular success finding trading partners, we barely get past the introductions before something goes wrong."

"Elizabeth…"

"No, don't. I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just worried that we don't have enough understanding of how to interact with the people out here." She sighed heavily. "These are _alien_ cultures, we have no idea of their precepts. It all gets so complicated."

"Wasn't it this complicated on Earth?" prodded John.

"Yes. There were nightmare scenarios that had nothing to do with Goa'uld and Wraiths." Elizabeth though of how far away all those problems seemed from Pegasus. "And there were squabbles and headaches and differences of opinion there too. But I wasn't the only one who was making all the big decisions.

John didn't really know how to respond to that comment. He could tell her that he understood because he thought he almost did understand, but it would be a lie and Elizabeth would call him on it. Instead he said, "I'm sorry. I know I do things sometimes that make it harder for you."

She smiled over at him, touched by his sincere consideration. She stretched her shoulders and made an effort to move past the proverbial dark clouds hovering over her. "Thank you. But don't pay too much attention to what I say right now, it's been a bad day. This is just my doubts talking." She leaned against the railing casually. She felt better now, having vented a little.

"I get that," said John, coming to lean next to her, close enough that their shoulders were touching. She felt him watching her out of the corner of his eye. "You know it's okay to have doubts and be worried sometimes, though, right?" John looked at her intently and she met his gaze. She thought he still looked concerned.

"Yes, I know that."

"Good," he said with a decisive nod. "If you ever want to talk, about anything at all, I'm here, all you have to do is ask." "I might just take you up on that sometime." 

They held each other's gaze for a long moment and then looked back at the horizon line. Elizabeth knew that the horizon looked flat but was in fact curved when compared to a straight edge. Perhaps the problems that arose for them her in Atlantis looked nearly impossible to surmount merely because they needed to compare it with a new straight edge for comparison.

After a minute or two Elizabeth noticed that she felt genuinely cold and that the breeze had become a gusty wind. "It's getting a bit chilly out here, I'm thinking of in for a cup of coffee. Care to join me?"

John grinned at her, "Sounds good to me."

They walked back to the nearest tower and returned inside. The still, musty air inside felt a bit close, stuffy, but it was noticeably warmer.

"What are we going to do when we run out of coffee?" Elizabeth wondered aloud.

"We'll all be extra tired and cranky while we all go through caffeine withdrawal and then we'll get over it," John said lightly.

Elizabeth laughed a little. "It's not as though sent _good_ coffee anyway. There's this little café in D.C. just about five minutes away from the university campus where I used to teach. They had the best French roast in the city, and fairly good espresso too. They stuff we have here doesn't even come close."

"You know what I miss? Barbecue spare ribs."

"My mother made good spare ribs."

"You're lucky, my mother couldn't cook. Not anything edible anyway. My dad could cook though, but he almost never had the time. He had a lot of take-out growing up."

"We?"

"My sister and I."

"I have a sister, Margaret"

"Older or younger?"

"Oh, see now Danica was older than me by about five years. She could be really sweet to me and she could make my life hell."

"And I suppose you were nice to her the time, right?" teased Elizabeth, smirking.

"I was a perfect angel," he said innocently, trying not to smile.

They came to a transporter. After a short ride they stepped out in the mess hall. Due to the late hour the mess was practically deserted, Dave Sutherland and Evelyn Fourkiller were sitting very close together in one corner and didn't even look up when Elizabeth and John walked in. Other than them the place was empty.

Elizabeth felt much better than she had earlier, lighter, more relaxed. They got their coffee and sat and talked for nearly and hour and a half. They kept the conversation relatively light, both loath to ruin the mood. Elizabeth was glad her mind was off her worries and then when she was more involved in the conversation, she was simply glad of the good company.

After their coffee was gone they put their cups aside and continued their conversation. Elizabeth leaned forward with her elbows on the table and her hands clasped. John had seen her sit that way before, when she was genuinely interested in something or was puzzling something out. He liked the feeling it gave him to know she was listening that intently to him and only him. He found himself talking seriously, about things he didn't normally discus with anyone. He confessed that when he first signed on to the Atlantis mission he had worried that job would be mostly that of glorified light switch and elevator operator because of his talent with the ancient gene.

"You don't regret coming here do you?" asked Elizabeth, suddenly in need of reassurance.

"God, no, this place is amazing," John said without hesitation and with such earnestness that she could help grinning at him. "I do regret accidentally waking up the wraith though," he admitted.

"You had no way of knowing that would happen, John, I don't blame you and you shouldn't either."

John looked down and was silent for a minute, thinking. He leaned back in his chair a bit and Elizabeth felt the mood shift. "You know there's something about the Wraith that I can't figure," said John, "They eat people, I mean their life energy or something, right? How is that possible?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how could they have evolved that way? They must have evolved somewhere with an unlimited supply of humans, either that of maybe they fed on each other."

"You know, that's bothered me as well. But I thought of a third and even more disturbing scenario, they could have been engineered."

"Why, and by who? who the hell would be twisted enough to _want_ the Wraith to exist, and have the technology to pull it off?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were an experiment that went horribly wrong. I just don't know." Elizabeth shrugged and sighed wearily. She wondered where their pleasant conversation had gone, and how might she get back to it.

"I'm too tired to think about this now and have it make any sense. And besides, it'll give me bad dreams," Said John.

"What time is it, anyway?"

"Earth time or Atlantis time?"

"Either."

"Late."

Elizabeth laughed.

"Hey, did anyone ever by anything other than Elizabeth? I mean like a nickname?"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, a little surprised by the sudden change of subject, "No, not really."

"Not even when you were a kid?"

"My brothers used to call me Eliza when they wanted to drive me nuts. Well, and Simon thought my name was Eleanor at first, but that's different."

"He thought your name was Eleanor?"

"It was a rather embarrassing misunderstanding," she said and didn't elaborate. "Why are you asking about nicknames?"

"Just curious." John paused playfully, "You know, in high school I tried to get my friends to call me JJ. It didn't take, which I'm now infinitely grateful for."

"JJ?" Elizabeth was smirking.

"Yes. My middle name's Jasper, so…" he shrugged.

"Jonathan Jasper Sheppard, I like that." He wasn't sure if she was teasing or not.

"Yeah, well don't let it get around."

"Wouldn't dream of it." She said and then yawned dramatically, reminding her of how tired she was. "I should probably go get some sleep, the nine o'clock briefing is going to feel very early tomorrow." She stood up a little stiffly. John stood also.

"Walk you to your quarters?" he offered.

"I think I can find my way."

"Okay," he said sounding a little disappointed.

"See you tomorrow, John."


End file.
